Container article

ABSTRACT

A container article is described, designed for a deformable food composition, comprised of:
         a bowl-shaped body having a generally planar base;   said base having substantially circular bottom panel with a slightly elevated center portion;   said body further comprising a depending sidewall integral with said base, thereby defining a cavity therein;   said sidewall being tapered, with the bottom cross-sectional diameter being smaller that the top cross-sectional diameter,   said sidewall terminating in a lip;   wherein said lip is a convex flange having a substantially flat seal surface extending outwardly in a plane generally parallel to the plane of said base,   and further comprising at least two arcuate outer rib sidewall sections that surround the top portion of said bowl sidewall discontinuously so as to form handles at the discontinuities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

A container article having a bowl shape. In particular, a bowl shaped article for holding foods that take the shape of the container.

2. The Related Art

A variety of food containers have been on the market for many years, such as the COUNTRY CROCK product available from Unilever, for example. Further efforts have been made for container design, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,767,878.

Certain shortcomings in the commercially available articles containing food compositions have been found. For example, it is desirable to provide the container with handles, especially for easy and safe handling of hot foods.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an improved bowl-shaped container that is light weight, thus less expensive, and rigid at the same time while being provided with handles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A container article is described, designed for a deformable food composition, comprised of:

-   -   a bowl-shaped body having a generally planar base;     -   said base having substantially circular bottom panel with a         slightly elevated center portion;     -   said body further comprising a depending sidewall integral with         said base, thereby defining a cavity therein;     -   said sidewall being tapered, with the bottom cross-sectional         diameter being smaller that the top cross-sectional diameter,     -   said sidewall terminating in a lip;     -   wherein said lip is a convex flange having a substantially flat         seal surface extending outwardly in a plane generally parallel         to the plane of said base;     -   and further comprising at least two arcuate outer rib sidewall         sections that surround the top portion of said bowl sidewall         discontinuously so as to form handles at the discontinuities.

The article is stackable. The article is rigid while having thin walls.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention are described in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a container article according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of stacked container articles;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the container article according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the circled portion of FIG. 2 (the handle portion);

FIG. 5 is a detailed cross-sectional view through section 2-2 of FIG. 2 (the rib portion);

FIG. 6 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the circled of FIG. 2 (the stack shoulder);

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is based in part on, although not limited to, the discovery that consumers prefer a bowl-shaped container for deformable foods that contain a handle for easier handling, especially of hot foods. A light weight and economical design is desired by consumers and manufacturers. Also, the provision of a handle leads to rigidity problems with the container, which are ameliorated according to the present invention by provision of a rib around the container and between the handles to provide rigidity to the container.

The container is made of any semi-rigid plastic material. Semi-rigid as it refers to the container structure according to the present invention is one that maintains its shape under a normal load, e.g. containing savory food products or spreads which take the form of the container when placed within the cavity of the bowl and which may be heated, but which container may be flexed upon the application of additional force.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, showing the article according to the present invention, a container 10 includes bowl-shaped body 12 for receiving a liquid or semi-solid, deformable savory food or vegetable oil containing food composition. Bowl-shaped body 12 has a generally planar base 14, base 14 having substantially circular bottom panel 16 with a slightly elevated center portion 18, with a depending sidewall 20 integral with base 14 defining a cavity 22. Sidewall 20 is tapered, with the bottom cross-sectional diameter being smaller that the top cross-sectional diameter, preferably having an angle relative to the vertical axis of about 5 to about 30 degrees, with a height (or cavity depth) of about 2 to about 4 inches.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, sidewall 10 terminates in lip 24, which is a convex flange having a substantially flat seal surface 26 extending outwardly in a plane generally parallel to the plane of base 14.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 5, substantially semi-circular hoops or ribs 28 are provided so as to fill in the empty space within the convex flange (referred to above with) the plastic material of the container, resulting in an outer rib sidewall section 30 that may be substantially perpendicular to the plane of base 14. Conversely, where ribs 28 are discontinuous in surrounding the top sidewall 20, handles 32 are formed by the empty space within the convex flange (as shown in FIG. 4). Preferably, when two ribs 28 are provided, they are situated symmetrically opposite, so that two handles 32 are symmetrically opposite. More than two handles 32 may be created by making additional discontinuities in ribs 28, and sidewall section 30 may assume a different suitable shape.

With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, ribs 28 preferably further include stack shoulders 34 that are vertical projecting segments spaced along the length of ribs 28. The stacking is illustrated in FIG. 2.

Sidewall 20 may be smooth or have a textured imprint 36 thereon (not shown). Preferably, container 10 is provided with a seal film 38 (not shown) to adhere to seal surface 26. Preferably, the seal film is a peel-away film which is easily pulled or torn away when being separated from the substrate, i.e., seal surface 26. Additionally, a lid 40 (not shown) may be provided to cover container 10 with or without seal film 38.

Container 10 may be made of any rigid plastic material, such as acetal, which is suitable for direct food contact, particularly hot food contact. Preferably, the plastic permits formation of container 10 that is optimally thin-walled while sufficiently thick and rigid to support the food placed therein as a single container 10 and during stacking of multiple containers 10. Container 10 is preferably injection molded.

In Use. Use of container article 10 occurs in the following manner. Container articles 10 are stored in a stacked configuration as shown in FIG. 2 during transport or storage either empty or filled with deformable food. Container articles 10 are sufficiently rigid to withstand the downward pressure that is applied against container 10 when stacked, and especially when filled with food.

A consumer will remove any lid 40 that may cover container article 10, followed by easily peeling away seal film 38 from seal surface 26. The food may be consumed cold or hot directly from container article 10. Article 10 with savory or vegetable oil food composition is held by hand by way of handles 32, especially when hot.

Composition. Savory or vegetable oil containing composition preferably is a food product, such as, for example, salad, hot meal, or vegetable spread. Ingredients may include edible vegetable oil, water, and food grade acids such as citric acid or acetic acid. Further ingredients may include, but are not limited to, preservatives, flavors, fragrances, thickeners, sugar, and salt. The vegetable oils can be any food grade liquid oil, including but not limited to soybean oil, olive oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower seed oil, and rapeseed oil. The vegetable oils may be saturated or unsaturated, however, non-hydrogenated oils are preferred. The viscosity of the compositions may be adjusted to suit a particular product and to work with a particular dispenser variation. Preferably, the food composition is such that it takes the form of the container upon filling.

Except in the operating and comparative examples, or where otherwise explicitly indicated, all numbers in this description indicating amounts of material ought to be understood as modified by the word “about”.

The term “comprising” is meant not to be limiting to any subsequently stated elements but rather to encompass non-specified elements of major or minor functional importance. In other words the listed steps, elements or options need not be exhaustive. Whenever the words “including” or “having” are used, these terms are meant to be equivalent to “comprising” as defined above.

EXAMPLE 1

A study was conducted to evaluate the rigidity of container 10.

The test method for measuring rigidity involved the following procedure. Containers 10 were placed on top of a rigidity plate and compressed until a deflection of 0.5 inches was reached. The Table below outlines the test parameters in terms of maximum force (kg). It was found that container 10 withstood the stresses of this test.

TABLE 1A Parts were allowed to rise in fixture ZT60329CP1P1 T51328CP1 3.156 2.006 3.386 1.846 3.276 1.718 3.888 1.218 3.996 1.874 3.806 1.530 3.688 1.542 3.890 1.766 4.128 1.554 3.638 1.806 Average 3.685 1.686

TABLE 1B Parts were not allowed to rise in fixture ZT60329CP1P1 T51328CP1 4.624 3.520 4.548 3.580 4.466 3.444 4.442 3.832 4.530 3.726 4.170 4.026 4.246 3.718 4.645 3.914 4.018 3.416 4.378 3.242 Average 4.407 3.642

While the present invention has been described herein with some specificity, and with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize numerous variations, modifications and substitutions of that which has been described which can be made, and which are within the scope and spirit of the invention. It is intended that all of these modifications and variations be within the scope of the present invention as described and claimed herein, and that the invention be limited only by the scope of the claims which follow, and that such claims be interpreted as broadly as is reasonable. Throughout this application, various publications have been cited. The entireties of each of these publications are hereby incorporated by reference herein. 

1. An article of manufacture comprising a container comprising: a bowl-shaped body having a generally planar base; said base having substantially circular bottom panel with a slightly elevated center portion; said body further comprising a depending sidewall integral with said base, thereby defining a cavity therein; said sidewall being tapered, with the bottom cross-sectional diameter being smaller that the top cross-sectional diameter, said sidewall terminating in a lip; wherein said lip is a convex flange having a substantially flat seal surface extending outwardly in a plane generally parallel to the plane of said base; and further comprising at least two arcuate outer rib sidewall sections that surround the top portion of said bowl sidewall discontinuously so as to form handles at the discontinuities.
 2. The article according to claim 1 wherein said container has a bowl-shaped body for receiving a liquid or semi-solid, deformable savory food or vegetable oil containing food composition.
 3. The article according to claim 1 wherein said sidewall is tapered, with the bottom cross-sectional diameter being smaller that the top cross-sectional diameter, preferably having an angle relative to the vertical axis of about 5 to about 30 degrees, with a height (or cavity depth) of about 2 to about 4 inches.
 4. The article according to claim 1 wherein said substantially semi-circular ribs are provided so as to fill in the empty space within said convex flange with the plastic material of the container, resulting in an outer rib sidewall section that may be substantially perpendicular to the plane of base.
 5. The article according to claim 1 wherein where said ribs are discontinuous in surrounding the top sidewall, said handles are formed by the empty space within the convex flange.
 6. The article according to claim 1 wherein when two said ribs are provided, said ribs are situated symmetrically opposite, thereby forming two handles that are symmetrically opposite.
 7. The article according to claim 1 having than two said handles formed by a plurality of said discontinuities in said ribs.
 8. The article according to claim 1 wherein said container is variable in size. 